just like the ringing in my ears

i decided to turn one long post into two shorter ones in order to make it more digestable for those of you who's short attention spans can't handle a long one. the new schedule at work is going alright; i really am not built for getting up for work early in the morning. i still cannot believe i somehow managed to work at delhi park for a whole summer when i had to be there at 7am every morning (ok, so i usually showed up at 7:05-7:10 but you get the idea). however, getting out from work at 2:15 is going to be fantastic when the spring weather comes. especially on mondays and fridays, when i'll have no night classes to attend. everyone is going "universal" at work in april, which means instead of handling only calls on things like laundry and dish detergent, i'll be taking calls on a huge variety of products. they're not even giving us classroom training on most of these new products, it's going to be up to us to teach ourselves about them. i'm not looking forward to this at all. oh how i can't wait to get my 90 days notice, followed by a nice severance package (assuming they haven't been lying to us all along).

i really wish the weather would just stay warm and stop going back to being cold. i've been feeling like i'm getting a cold for the last couple days, which i'm sure has something to do with the sudden burst of snow and cold that we got on monday night. it looks like this coming week will get warmer again, so let's hope it stays that way.

i haven't really been playing any games at all lately. in fact, i think i went all of spring break without playing any video games, which is surprising. there just isn't much that interests me right now. call of duty and day of defeat both got stale for now. i'm still having video card issues that are preventing me from playing civilization iv. i was disappointed by the release of red orchestra: i like realistic war-themed shooters, but not when the realism overshadows the fun. it also seemed a lot less polished than i expected. for a game that began as an unreal tournament 2004 mod, it was not very impressive looking. command & conquer: the first decade was a fantastic idea (packing all of the c&c games on dvd for only $40) and i played it for awhile, but i got annoyed when it locked up and crashed on me at one point, and i haven't played it since. sid meier's pirates! and f.e.a.r. have also both been sitting on the shelf for now; i'm almost afraid to play pirates! because it just eats up too much time, and f.e.a.r. is one of those games that is good, but so suffers from being so creepy that it can be almost painful to keep playing. it doesn't have the healthy mix of creepy and fun like half-life 2.

echoing your voice

i guess i'll try and recreate the post i attempted to make yesterday. i was originally going to update back on wednesday, but my internet was not working for almost two days. austin and i are having continual problems with the internet either running slow or quitting entirely for periods of time. at first i kept blaming zoomtown for the problems, but now i think the real culprit might be our router. we're currently using a linksys, and i think i might go buy a new router to see if that helps. anyone have a brand or model they'd recommend?

i also need to get an fm adapter for my ipod so i can use it in my car. the ability to have my entire music collection at my disposal when i'm driving is one of the primary reasons i wanted an ipod in the first place. carrying my entire cd collection back and forth from to my car is something i'm unwilling to do in corryville, and the ipod gives me an easy solution to the problem. jess and i stopped by the apple store in kenwood mall last weekend. they had some fm tuners there, but i wanted to see what other places are selling them for, and if there are any good third-party alternatives out there. so far i haven't had any luck, but i also haven't done much looking.

my anger over the bearcat's loss in the nit quarterfinals has subsided somewhat, but there's still little happiness to take away from how this season went. the team just took one too many punches. shame on muhammed and white for not being able to put forth a minimal amount of academic effort for just one more quarter. saying that they let the team down is an understatement. still, the rest of the bearcats gave it all they had, and for basically only playing seven players they did well. i'm still bitter over the way that the administration treated kennedy. i don't think they ever had any intention of giving him the job, unless there was really no other alternative out there. good luck to him in mississippi though, he deserves it. and good luck to bob huggins at kansas state. i don't have any ill-will towards cronin as uc's new coach (hey, a fellow uc history major!) because the situation isn't his fault, but the administration should be ashamed. they keep talking about wanting to give uc a good image; well snubbing your interim coach after he did a fantastic job holding this season together is not the way to do it.

break from what we're tied to

there's nothing more frustrating and annoying than being in the middle of posting about other annoying and frustrating things, and then getting an error that makes you lose your whole post...

still cannot fix this broken machine

there's been a huge lack of updates from me lately. its a mixture of a lack of time and a lack of motivation/inspiration on my part. the big 2-1 last week was a lot of fun, and i'm already enjoying my new 30gb ipod. now i need to get something to let me play it in my car, and maybe some other accessories.

i'm still pretty angry about the bearcats not making it into the tournament. just as with the poor officiating in this year's super bowl, there's plenty of controversy and complaining about who was picked and who was left out for good reason. its not just the bearcats that got robbed either, there were other schools (including ones like michigan that i don't like) that should have been in over crappy teams like air force and arizona.

rob made an ncaa tournament pick'em on yahoo. the league id is 44543 and the password is cincinnati.

it's a bittersweet day in bengal-town, as jon kitna signed a contract with the detroit lions. i hope he beats out joey harrington for the starting job and can make something of that team. he was a great guy, and it'll be too bad not to have him around anymore. in good news, we signed dexter jackson at safety yesterday, which should give us a big boost in the secondary. between jackson and madeiu williams, we're looking pretty good at safety. now we can focus on defensive line and tight end in the draft.

they keep calling me

the nine inch nails concert on saturday night with justin and dougie was amazing. i had big expectations going in, and i can't say i was disappointed. the opening band was bland and mediocre, and the microphone kept cutting out on the singer. this made it amusing for us, but i feel a little bad for them in that situation, because i'm sure being the opening band is never an easy thing.

anyway, they kept it decently short, and nin came on. and they were fantastic. i am so glad justin went for the floor seats, as it was a much better experience than it would have been sitting up in the seats. we must have been twenty or so feet from the stage. i started off with a terrible view behind the tallest couple at the show, with the guys shoulder directly in my face, and some big dude right behind me. thankfully everyone pushed forward more at the beginning of the show, giving me a lot more room, and a pretty good view. it was fun to watch, they had a lot of really great looking lighting and effect. plus, you always like seeing trent screaming, and the guitarist either flailing his guitar while he plays, stage diving into the crowd, or trashing his guitar at the end.

its really hard to pick a highlight from the show. dead souls, terrible lie, something i can never have, and march of the pigs all stand out (the last one partially just because their guitarist, aaron north, is insane). although i didn't like with teeth as much as their older albums, the songs came out really well live. only, you know what you are?, getting smaller, and the hand that feeds were probably among the best from that album. the acoustic version of right where it belongs was cool, but i'd have to say i like the piano version from the album better. i'd say i liked that title track a lot better live too (and seeing trent reznor use a tamborine is pretty hilarious). wish and gave up are always favorites of mine, and always are even better live. and you can never go wrong with the classics (hurt, closer, and head like a hole). you know they'll play those, but getting other great songs you wouldn't expect like eraser, burn, and dead souls is what really makes it great.

looking back, it was a little disappointing not to here anything off the fragile. actually, shocking is more like it. but to be honest i hadn't even realized it till justin mentioned it after the show. like he said in his recap on the concert, you always wish you could write the setlist to a show like this. its always hard not to hear all the songs you'd like to hear, especially from the fragile and the downward spiral. but regardless, it was an awesome show, totally worth the money, and i'd go see them again if i got the chance.

justin took pictures with his camera phone, which you can see here. his comments on the show can be found on his blog. if anyone's interested, people have also posted some low-quality video clips of the show on youtube.


the full set list:

1. intro - The New Flesh/Pinion
2. Love Is Not Enough
3. You Know What You Are?
4. Terrible Lie
5. The Line Begins To Blur
6. March Of The Pigs
7. Something I Can Never Have
8. Closer
9. Burn
10. Gave Up
11. Eraser
12. Right Where It Belongs
13. Beside You In Time
14. With Teeth
15. Wish
16. Only
17. Every Day Is Exactly The Same
18. Getting Smaller
19. Dead Souls
20. Hurt
21. The Hand That Feeds
22. Head Like A Hole

i've watched this scene a thousand times

ok family, here's my expanded birthday list:

books:

• the hobbit: collector's edition
• the ultimate hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy
• the screwtape letters

cds:

• star wars trilogy soundtrack
  

computer games:

• star wars battlefront II
• lego star wars (or for xbox)
• gun (or for xbox)
• star wars: empire at war?
  

dvds:

• goodfellas
• star wars episode II: attack of the clones
• monty python & the holy grail
• the three wallace & gromit short films
• walk the line
  

misc. items:

• 30gb ipod
  
• grado sr60 headphones
• blank cds (not blank dvds, i have plenty)
• computer paper for my printer
• gift certificates to best buy, target, chipotle, skyline, dick's, or for the mall or a shoe store (i need new shoes)
• a new small travel bag for toothbrush, concact lense stuff, etc.
  
• gas cards
• cotton/fleece-type gloves (mom knows what i'm talking about)
• money
• a new cell phone?

that's all i got.